


one

by ZephyrEden



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Main Game Spoilers, the 'i've watched this scene 3 times now and thought it could use a little pizzazz' fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21674935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZephyrEden/pseuds/ZephyrEden
Summary: the tower scene.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	one

“Leon.”

The Champion glances over at the steely tone, Rose’s finger and thumb pressed to where his eyebrows pinch in frustration. Leon’s expression doesn’t change from barely constrained neutrality, a true feat of will as far as he’s concerned.

“We’ve discussed this a hundred times already.” Chairman Rose drops his hand and his gaze pierces Leon with all the sharpness of a blunt knife. He’s tired. He can’t rest. Not yet. Not when they’re so close. “And still you fail to understand what’s at stake?” There’s a questioning lilt to his voice; Leon wonder if it’s there to make him feel stupid.

“ _You_ ,” Rose continues on even harsher, accusingly, “who is supposed to be our _Champion-_ _“_

_“_ I think I understand well enough,” Leon cuts in, his composure falling with an ungraceful amount of ease. This isn’t the time to be paying mind to such things, so he grits his teeth harder and forces back the wave of prideful embarrassment that swells the more his emotions rise.

“What I _don_ _’t_ understand is why we ought to cancel tomorrow’s tournament in order to solve a problem that’s a thousand years away from affecting _any of us!_ _”_ His arm whips out to gesture, his cape fluttering with the motion and casting long shadows across the room.

“What difference is _one day_ going to make?”

The room is empty.

“My duty as Champion isn’t this-“ he scrambles for words that don’t come, his frustration bubbling until one pops with the reminder that Rose was always better at speech-making than he was. “-This madness!” He grows self conscious of the emptiness, dropping one arm in order to point with the other, towards the light of Wyndon. Of Galar. “It’s to carry out that Championship Match! _That_ _’s_ what Galar wants—and what _I_ want!”

He falters at the look the Chairman gives him, one that makes him feel as small as he did when he met him for the first time as a gym challenger. One that lets him know how childish he sounds. The hand by his side curls into a fist and he’s entirely discomforted by how different it feels to touch his palm instead of the smooth material of a poké ball. He closes his eyes, refusing to be defeated. He takes a deep breath before opening them again. “It’s what we’ve all been looking forward to for so long!” He’s calm, but his voice is loud and firm, even as it echoes back.

Rose closes his eyes and sighs. He shakes his head. A small chuckle manages to escape him. “No,” he continues shaking his head, “you don’t understand.” He fixes Leon in his sights and the Champion feels like his feet have been welded to the ground, the heaviness of that gaze physically weighing him down. “You still don’t understand a _thing!_ Look around us, Leon!”

Leon watches as Rose turns his own movements against him, his arm shooting out and motioning to all of Galar, a million twinkles of light sitting right outside the glass.

“Look at the Galar region stretched out before us!”

The warm light of the city life and cool shadow of the skyline drape lovingly over Rose in equal measure.

“And know,” he says seriously. The time for negotiations is over. “That the energy required to keep this _brilliant, glittering_ world alive will be exhausted a millennium from now! The people of Galar _today_ will no longer even _exist_.” He doesn’t understand why this is so hard for their Champion to grasp—that there are things on the horizon _bigger_ than them, bigger than _everyone_. “What Galar wants _today_ hardly matters!”

He sighs again, trying to reign his passion in. Hysterics have never made a deal go smoother. “The future,” he says slowly and raises his hand, “is more important than just,” his fingers fold down until only the pointer remains upright, “ _one,_ _”_ his hand trembles, “ _day!_ _”_

He turns away from Leon and fully faces Galar, raising his hand to his chin as he looks over the city. He always did think Wyndon looked glorious at night. He doesn’t think he would do anything to save it—he knows he would. “We must act as quickly as we possibly can! We must take action in order to avert tragedy! So that _all_ can look forward to a better future!”

Is it so hard for people to think beyond themselves?

“In a thousand years!” Leon shouts. He can’t believe the Chairman is even entertaining this crock. It’s absolute madness.

The Chairman sighs once more. He supposes it is.

Leon echoes with a huff of his own, his arms crossed over his chest so he can try to shake some of the uneasiness off. “Fine. Look. I think I understand your concerns, Chairman.” Rose flashes him a look, but he brushes it off before his brain really has the chance to process its meaning. This is the easiest way to get out of this. He’s entertained the Chairman long enough. “And I give my word I’ll help you with your plans...” he winces a bit at his own insincerity and hopes the other doesn’t notice, “just as soon as tomorrow’s match is over.”

Footsteps echo and close in from the other side of the roof and Leon notices the worried look on his brother’s face before he realizes his future challenger is here as well.

“Lee...” Hop says, caught halfway between confusion and fear with neither strong enough to stall his interruption. He glances at the Chairman’s back before looking back at his brother. “You never showed when you were supposed to, so I got worried that something had happened...” Leon gives him a strange look, one he isn’t sure he understands, so he clears his throat and continues. “Piers and Marnie and all those Team Yell oddballs, they all helped us out to get here...” The two challengers’ eyes drift to where the Chairman stands, uneasy.

Rose turns around with a congenial smile and the heavy atmosphere vanishes near instantly. Leon tries not to stumble as he finally gets his legs to work again. “I must apologize to you, Hop, if we’ve made you worry at all,” he says with a polite sincerity that surprises Leon with how genuine it seems. He’s tired. “There are times when adults just can’t seem to have an honest discussion with one another. Sometimes our _pride_ ,” he says pointedly, gentle smile never faltering, “just gets in the way.”

“Never mind any of this, you two,” Leon cuts in, grabbing for the out while he still can. “Let’s head back to the hotel, and we’ll all grab dinner together, yeah? It’s on me, so you can order whatever you fancy,” he grins and hopes they’re distracted enough to not notice how fake it is. It only seems to fool one of them. He glances away. “If you’ll excuse us, Chairman Rose...” He can’t help the cheeky smile that slips out. “And I do hope you’ll watch tomorrow’s match. It’s sure to be one for the history books.”

Rose watches as Leon turns on his heel and counts the number of Macro Cosmos sponsors on his cape before turning away himself. Three sets of footsteps fade with the whir of the lift, leaving only the quick clack of heels nonchalantly rushing towards him.

“One for the history books...” he mumbles to himself and counts the number of homes with their lights on right now that he can see. Within a minute the number is large enough for him to lose track. The clacking stops a few feet behind him.

“You still don’t understand, young Champion... We...” He clenches his fists until his knuckles hurt then unfurls them. He looks at the palm of his hand, at the dents his fingernails have forced into it. “No, _I_ am going to change the course of history.”

One day is a small price to pay for the future of Galar. So he’ll take tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> rose: you want me to be the bad guy? fine. i'm the bad guy.
> 
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End file.
